The present invention relates to a screw-actuated wire terminal joined to a cylindrical housing containing electrical or electronic components by a disk-shaped adapter.
Home security systems frequently have a plurality of remote sensing devices connected to a central control circuit. These remote sensing devices may take the form of magnetic reed switches, moisture detectors, or acoustic detectors but all are generally small devices which are designed to fit into tight locations or into bores drilled in walls or window sills where space is at a premium. To that end, housings have generally been provided for such devices which are cylindrical in nature and occupy relatively small dimensions. An example of such a device is shown in the Holce U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,110. FIGS. 4 and 5 of that patent disclose a cylindrical housing for a magnetic reed switch which is intended to be inserted into a bore drilled through a door or window sill. The housing of the Holce patent suffers from the problem however, that the leads connecting the magnetic reed switch to the security system are more or less permanently attached to the contacts of the reed switch. If the reed switch must be replaced, there is no convenient way to disconnect the switch from the rest of the circuit other than by cutting the wires. Once the wires are cut, however, the only way to connect a new reed switch to the circuit is to twist the wires in pigtail fashion to a pair of leads connected to the ends of the magnetic reed switch inside the housing. This type of connection is, however, prone to failure.
Although it is possible to terminate the reed switch contacts in a pair of screw-type binding posts mounted on one end of the cylindrical housing, these posts must usually be set too close together, given the size of the housing, for reliable performance. Typically, short circuits will occur when a strand of wire from one binding post touches the other. This is a frequent problem after the wires have been connected and the device is being physically installed or manipulated to place it in some tight location.
Modular screw-type wire terminal connectors and terminal strips which do not suffer from the above noted deficiencies have been available for a variety of applications. An example of such a connector is marketed under the trademarks "WIBA" and "ELECTROVERT." These terminal strips, however, have a generally rectangular base and are ill suited for connection to a reed switch or for any component enclosed in an essentially cylindrical housing.
What is needed, therefore, is an integral housing consisting of a tubular holder for a magnetic reed switch or the like, with a means of affixing thereto a modular terminal strip in a secure yet inexpensive, cost-effective fashion which can be easily manufactured and assembled.